MdPensFan wrote:I just ran into Mario at a Wawa here in Maryland (Don't ask me why he was here, I have no idea).

He saw me fumbling around in my pocket while searching for my wallet. He could sort of tell that I couldn't find it by the embarrassed look on my face when the lady called my number for the foot long roastbeef I had ordered.

Being the great guy Ole 66 is, he gladly paid for my late lunch, and even topped off my gas tank!! I thanked him about ten times then asked about Talbot meeting a fan in Carolina. He replied, "Oh ya, those guys got trashed on top shelf Scotch all night at some dive bar in the bible belt. I think he's even giving the dude his parents season tickets next year. They just clicked like that."

I said thanks for clearing that up for me, I gotta go type.

My batteries were dead, and there was no one else around to get a photo. As soon as I turned around, the Wawa people locked their door so I couldn't even ask them to snap just one shot.

1.) Dude and his HA-HA-HOT girlfriend happened into a sushi joint where the Penguins were having dinner and whooping it up after all but clinching the Eastern Conference Finals.

2.) He was annoyed at first in part because their obnoxious behavior but mostly because he is a big Canes fan and he was disappointed that their seemingly special season was now all but over at the hands of these uber-loud punks.

3.) At that point he heard absolutely nothing his girlfriend talked (beotched) about as he was eaves dropping on the obnoxiously drunk Penguins seated nearby.

4.) After listening to their banter for a little while he became somewhat star-struck and decided that they seemed like cooler guys than he had originally imagined them as being.

5.) They were all picking on Letang (because they like him very much).

6.) Crosby was seated at the other end of the bar (talking hockey to whomever was seated next to him); Talbot was seated right next to dude and his smoking hot girlfriend and was talking all kinds of nonsense to his teammates and anyone else who would listen.

7.) Hockey nerd siezed on this opportunity and began chatting up Mr. Talbot. This went on WAAAAAY too long but the Pens' were polite.

8.) Boucher was saying his goodnights to his teammates and he and this guy had a pleasant, if somewhat awkward, exchange in which hockey nerd slurped "Felipe" (that part I do believe).

9.) Some of the other Pens, who are all quite young, continue chatting with this dude and his girl because they all agree that she is SMOKING HOT and hockey nerd is harmless enough.

10.) After a little while they finally gracefully extricated themselves from the situation and asked him for places he'd recommend. His answer takes 10 more minutes; but it's cool because his girlfriend would look good naked.

11.) Most of the rest of the story is BS and sounds straight out of a cheesy '80's sit-com; especially the part about Talbot calling his buddy a poonie right on cue. That part was just too much for me to take and I want to believe this story.

here's my problem with the story. a minor detail, but a notable one nonetheless:

And then there were the 9 Penguins up at the bar with 4 bottles of $120 scotch being just as loud and jovial as they were at the previous place. These guys weren’t just looking to tie one on after a late dinner, they were looking to get hammered.

If this place was as uppity as he claims to be, you're not getting top shelf scotch for $120 a bottle at the bar. The bar has to make a profit off the bottle too, so in order for the bar to make money there has to be some markup.

If there mission is to "get hammered" and they are looking for a scotch bar specifically, it's not to drink middle shelf scotch. That would be like me coming to Pittsburgh, asking for the nearest place that specializes in imported beer, and ordering a Guinness.

This, and the lack of a camera has me doubting this ever happened. A B- for effort though.

And then there were the 9 Penguins up at the bar with 4 bottles of $120 scotch being just as loud and jovial as they were at the previous place. These guys weren’t just looking to tie one on after a late dinner, they were looking to get hammered.

If this place was as uppity as he claims to be, you're not getting top shelf scotch for $120 a bottle at the bar. The bar has to make a profit off the bottle too, so in order for the bar to make money there has to be some markup.

If there mission is to "get hammered" and they are looking for a scotch bar specifically, it's not to drink middle shelf scotch. That would be like me coming to Pittsburgh, asking for the nearest place that specializes in imported beer, and ordering a Guinness.

This, and the lack of a camera has me doubting this ever happened. A B- for effort though.

My problem with that detail is that he knew how much the bottles of scotch cost more than the particular cost of said scotch. I've already explained why I don't believe it though.

Max came to my dealership last year for an autograph session and I gotta say that this story is definitly in line with his demeanor. He was there for 5 minutes and picked up on the one kid we ragged on all the time and he started to get in on it. After a while we asked him which Penguin gets that treatment and without hesitation his answer was Letang. They are apparently relentless with him.

Who cares if the story is true or not? You guys are trying to be all CSI on this guy's story when poses no consequences at all.

"I met some pro athletes in a bar and we hung out for a while! They're really cool! They even rode in my car! YAY ME!"

Cool. Good for you. Moving on...

It's not as if this guy said, "Yeah, they had to peel Crosby off this he-she because he was blitzed out of his gourd! Sid couldn't even stand up right! What kind of guy is he? Oh, and Crosby was uttering racial slurs all night. We don't take kindly to that around here, Mr. Big Shot! Go Whalercanes!"

If he's telling the truth, it shows the Pens are good guys. If he's lying, it shows that the Pens are good guys in his mind. Who cares?

Anyone who doesn't believe the guy is clearly jealous. Stop being skeptics and have some fun in your life.

I never even thought to not believe the story... I know of a lot of people who have run into these guys, and a lot of the details match up nicely.

As a hockey player, I can tell you, we are all the same breed. Whether you are a JV player, a college player, or a 35 year old NHL'er. It is unbelievable how all hockey players act and talk in the same lingo. So I can tell you, these guys were 100% out to get as hammered as possible that evening. There's a little thing in hockey known as "playing guilty", and it is exercised at all levels as well.

Max didn't have drinks with me so this has to be a lie. Especially considering I spend all my free time on LGP.com this can't be true. I am the Pens biggest fan so why would God not let this happen to me. Blah blah...more like whhhaaa whhhaaaa

Personally I think the story is true and good for John and Jane Doe to have some fun with the Pens.

I'm definitely skeptical. That having been said, it was a pretty good read, fiction or not. "I'd kick Talbot's ass if I saw him" is classic, even if it is just a good line written by a pathological liar. That, or he could be a genius -- there's four pages of back-and-forth about his tale. Some people like reading about dragons and wizards and crap like that. Others like reading about hockey players takin' hooks at a dive bar.

Details are a liar's best friend, but that doesn't mean they're a bad thing. They're also often the best parts of the story. (I'm thinking of the movie "Big Fish." If you haven't seen it, you should.)

In the guy's defense, a longtime buddy of mine caddies at Nemacolin down here in Fayette Nam. Celebrity sightings aren't rare, by any means, at the resort, and even less so being a caddy. Celebrities, especially athletes, love to golf. Lemieux's charity tournament was held there last year (I think... it may have been the year before), and my friend caddied for Talbot's group.

The long and short of it is that Talbot was cool as hell. Said he was jovial the whole time, "charming" (shall we say, heh) with the women, tipped him well, and saw him in the Caddyshack shortly after his round, calling him over and offering a double shot of Captain. Being on the job, he had to decline. He had nothing but the highest praise for Maxy and says he's become his favorite Penguin because the couple hours he spent with him that day.

I certainly don't have any reason to doubt an old friend, and I hope you don't have much reason to doubt my re-telling, considering it's just my $.02 on the subject of Mad Max being a cool guy, not a page-turning masterpiece of a thread topic. Also, you gotta remember that this is about a month or so after the end up the Cup Finals, so there's certainly nothing wrong with a nice toddy after a round on the links as opposed to after a playoff game. (Not that I think there's anything wrong with it after a playoff win with a day off, frankly, either.)

Ultimately, I do find the story believable, but my naturally skeptical nature, combined with a few questionable aspects of the story, cause me to look at it as a story most likely rooted in truth, most likely exaggerated, and as something that was worth the time to read... and even debate.

Who cares? The Pens are back in the Cup Finals. We got a couple of days to kill... it's all good.

[Edit: I forgot! The best part of the story... it was definitely this past summer, because he said Maxy told him that the guys shaved in the locker room after Game 6, with many tears involved. Can't believe I left that out.]

I think it's true. He really comes off as a hockey semi nerd with a hot girlfriend and there are too many realistic things mentioned not to be true. About the camera he might've wanted not to go to lengths about pictures, as that would've made him more geeky. I'm even surprised they talked that much hockey. Here in Sweden you don't talk hockey with hockey players. They're out for fun, not talking about their work.

They partied after round 1 last year, right? If this was two days before game 4 I see this as very likely.

The drunk driving (of course) and mid season drinking is discouraging, but not (sadly) surprising either.

Great story. There are some parts I wonder about, but judging from the amount and duration of drinking, I could believe that some of the details might have been remembered a little less accurately or embellished. The gf not taking cell phone pics mystifies me. I can see why he wouldn't because I never do and think it would be lame as hell in that kind of situation, but her? She'd be snapping pics left and right. Buddy setup? Nahhh.

I've had a bunch of "celebrity encounters" over the years with a lot of pro wrestlers and everyone from Traci Lords to Reese Witherspoon to Evander Holyfield, but none of them were quite that lengthy. As far as the heavy drinking goes, I'd say what he described was pretty common, except generally someone in the group gets more wasted and kind of embarrasses themselves..

brwi wrote:Great story. There are some parts I wonder about, but judging from the amount and duration of drinking, I could believe that some of the details might have been remembered a little less accurately or embellished. The gf not taking cell phone pics mystifies me. I can see why he wouldn't because I never do and think it would be lame as hell in that kind of situation, but her? She'd be snapping pics left and right. Buddy setup? Nahhh.

I've had a bunch of "celebrity encounters" over the years with a lot of pro wrestlers and everyone from Traci Lords to Reese Witherspoon to Evander Holyfield, but none of them were quite that lengthy. As far as the heavy drinking goes, I'd say what he described was pretty common, except generally someone in the group gets more wasted and kind of embarrasses themselves..